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After the initial success of the first ToonZa workshop presented by the Amak Art Kolektiv at the D6 Museum in December last year, the ToonZa initiative has decided to kick off with a bang for 2017. For those of you who can't stop drawing, here's the ToonZa press release stating what it's all about:

ToonZA is a new comic art initiative aimed at young people of all ages who can't stop drawing. It’s a key component of a larger vision to stimulate and develop graphic storytelling activity amongst South Africans. We aim to promote comics as a medium of entertainment, education and enlightenment, and to contribute to the development of artistic, narrative, entrepreneurship and leadership skills which will benefit participants in both their professional and personal lives.Our workshops are collaborative learning processes that push participants to the limits of their ability, resulting in extraordinary epiphanies and sudden leaps in individual achievement. They are also a tremendous amount of fun. For most emerging comic artists, it's a new experience to spend hours of regular creative time in the company of others who are as passionate about comics, manga, anime,animation, cartooning and graphic literature in general.We have two parallel ToonZa initiatives on the go at present: ToonZA:The Art of Comics every Tuesday evening at The College of Cape Town,and ToonZA: The Graphic Time Machine at the District 6 Homecoming Centre on Saturday mornings.

TOONZA: THE ART OF COMICS

ToonZA: The Art of Comics is a series of three eight-week courses on the theory and practice of making comics, presented by Andy Mason and Archie Birch, assisted by Robyn Hosking. The first course will be hosted at The College of Cape Town every Tuesday from 5.30 to 8.30 pm, 7 February to 28 March 2017. The cost is R 1 800 for the course, which includes tea and coffee and the use of the computer lab.

Course 1 is a comprehensive overview of the primary practical and theoretical components of making, producing, publishing and marketing comics. The course tackles the visual language of graphic narrative, including image and text, panels and time, sequence and storytelling, character and caricature, stereotype and archetype, theme and plot, composition and layout, action and dialogue, traditional and digital rendering, and publishing online and in print. It culminates in a mini-exhibition and mini-comic featuring participants' work.

Courses 2 & 3 will be held in the second and third trimesters of the year for participants who wish to continue this exciting journey with us. Each course culminates with a mini exhibition and collaborative mini-comic featuring participants' work, and we will have a larger exhibition and publication at the end of the year. Check out our Facebook page – @toonza.comics – for more information and updates.

TOONZA: THE GRAPHIC TIME MACHINE (D6 TOONZA)

ToonZa: The Graphic Time Machine (previously known as D6 ToonZa) is a regular workshop at the Homecoming Centre of the District Six Museum, on Saturdays from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. We are working towards the conceptualisation and production of a comic anthology exploring the epic, multi-layered story of District Six And The Deep Memory of Place. We also plan to have an exhibition of participants' work at the Homecoming Centre during Open Book Comics Fest in September 2017.

Our pilot workshop on 4 December 2016 was a great success, producing four original story concepts which will be explored further in subsequent workshops as we take participants through the practical steps of making a comic.

At this point the workshops are free. Initial funding for this project has been provided by the District Six Museum and we are currently seeking multi-stakeholder investment to help us develop a monthly comic for and by young people of all ages, hand-in-hand with the establishment of local cartoon clubs where participants collaborate in the creation, distribution and sale of their own mini-comics.

GET ON BOARD!

If you are interested in participating in The Art of Comics or The Graphic Time Machine (or both), please let us know by return of email and we’ll send you more info. You can also like and visit our Facebook page – @toonza.comics – for more information and updates, and ToonZa workshop participants can join our Facebook group to share their individual creative projects and mutual love of comics.

Aluta Cartoonua!

The Toonza Team

Robyn-Jade Hosking: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Archie Birch: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Andy Mason: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.